Podcasts about invasion u

A former CIA agent single-handedly takes on a foreign army wreaking havoc in the United States. Join us as we discuss Chuck Norris “jokes,” an all-American hero in a Canadian tuxedo, and why James never tried cocaine. Then we find out if Invasion U.S.A. stands the Test of Time.

In this action-packed episode of Film Lag, Nick introduces invading guest Chris to the explosive world of Invasion U.S.A., starring Chuck Norris. Join them as they delve into the high-octane and adrenaline-fueled adventure that is this 80s classic.They'll discuss:- Chuck Norris's iconic performance an uzi-toting, lone hero with quick kicks and quips.- The intense and gripping plot, featuring the invasion of the U.S. by a ruthless enemy force.- Whether or not Melissa - who is missing in action this episode - was taken hostage by an invading force.Listen in as Nick and Chris quip, ponder, and nerd out over Chuck Norris and this classic action film!

Have you heard the one about Chuck Norris? It's called Two Thumbs Down! And this week, the boys bring back Jeremy Bolm to talk his favorite movies of 2024, all things Chuck Norris, 80's action movies, and whether anyone actually died while making these movies

This week, Eric and Josh are joined by Nick to discuss: Cyndi Lauper, the Portland Trail Blazers, Will & Harper, camera drones, Free Solo, The Stand, Civil War, American Graffiti, Batman '89, Paint Your Wagon, The Simpsons, and more! They also chat about some of the movies screening the week of Friday December 6 - Thursday December 12: Porcelain War, Invasion U.S.A., and Mountains On Stage. They neglect to mention three movies: North By Northwest, The Return, and Silent Night, Deadly Night. They recorded this episode a couple of weeks early thanks to Josh being off visiting Portland, Oregon, so they didn't have all the booking info. You can always find up to date listings at mayfairtheatre.ca!

"Instead the explosion was so awesome, it blew the steel door to smithereens, and sent debris flying all over the place. (intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica plays)

This week's pick is the 1985 Cannon Films action masterpiece Invasion U.S.A. starring a denim-clad Chuck Norris. A one-man army comes to the rescue when the United States is invaded by communists.

After a 35 minute intro outlining what they have been watching in great detail, Adam and Jared then launch into a minute by minute commentary of Chuck Norris's beefy 80's actioner, Invasion U.S.A. The lads are baffled by the whole invasion angle but are suitably impressed by Chuck's ability to pilot a fan boat and fire multiple uzi's at the same time.

Mrparka's Weekly Reviews and Update Week 369 (06.08.2024) (Beauty of Beauties, Haunting of Julia 4K) www.youtube.com/mrparka https://www.instagram.com/mrparka/ https://twitter.com/mrparka00 http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-ray https://www.facebook.com/mrparka https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/ https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ https://www.patreon.com/mrparka https://open.spotify.com/show/2oJbmHxOPfYIl92x5g6ogK https://anchor.fm/mrparka https://www.stitcher.com/show/shut-up-brandon-podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mrparkas-weekly-reviews-and-update-the-secret-top-10/id1615278571 Time Stamps 0:00 “Beauty of Beauties” Reviews – 0:44 “Dream Time” 4K Review – 4:18 “The Haunting of Julia” 4K Review - 10:33 1982 “Humongous” Review –15:28 1982 “The Dorm That Dripped Blood” Review - 23:13 1982 “Unhinged” Review - 25:53 1982 “Deadly Sunday” Review - 28:25 1982 “Expensive Tastes” Review - 31:09 The Weekly Western “Young Guns” 4K - 33:53 Patreon Pick “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” Review - 42:52 Questions & Answers - 57:01 Patreon Drawing - 1:06:34 Update - 1:07:50 22 Shots of Moodz and Horror – https://www.22shotsofmoodzandhorror.com/ Podcast Under the Stairs – https://tputscast.com/podcast Video Version – https://youtu.be/hPqVdTjGwMI Links 88 Films - https://88-films.myshopify.com/ The Beauty of Beauties Blu-Ray - https://mvdshop.com/products/the-beauty-of-beauties-blu-ray Dream Time Blu-Ray - https://mvdshop.com/products/claudio-lattanzi-dream-time-il-tempo-del-sogno-blu-ray The Haunting of Julia 4K - https://shoutfactory.com/products/the-haunting-of-julia-collector-s-edition Humongous Blu-Ray - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=853765005786&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5336448800&toolid=10001&customid=&mkevt=1 The Dorm That Dripped Blood Blu-Ray/DVD - https://mvdshop.com/products/dorm-that-dripped-blood-the-dvd Unhinged DVD - https://grindhousevideo.com/products/murder-run-unhinged-dvd Deadly Sunday YouTube - https://youtu.be/Yql1sqrpJ98?si=6B1GRiVfteSd6fJz Expensive Tastes Internet Movie Archive - https://archive.org/details/expensivetasteshofan Young Guns 4K - https://www.amazon.com/Young-Guns-UHD-Emilio-Estevez/dp/B0CJ9VSLJ9 Planet of the Apes Blu-Ray Set - https://www.amazon.com/Anniversary-Collection-Beneath-Conquest-Blu-ray/dp/B001G7PX80/ Update 4K 1. Invasion U.S.A. Blu-Ray 2. Criminally Insane/ Satan's Black Wedding 3. Home Grown Horrors Vol. 3 Hauntedween/ Deadly Love/ Revenge 4. China O'Brien 1 and 2 4K Film Notes Beauty of Beauties - 1965 - Li Han-Hsiang Dream Time - 2024 - Claudio Lattanzi The Haunting of Julia - 1977 - Richard Loncraine Humongous - 1982 - Paul Lynch The Dorm That Dripped Blood - 1982 - Stephen Carpenter/ Jeffrey Obrow Deadly Sunday - 1982 - Donald M. Jones Expensive Tastes - 1982 - Ho Fan Young Guns - 1988 - Christopher Cain Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - 1972 - J. Lee Thompson --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mrparka/support

In the Year of Our Chuck Norris, 1986, a little movie from the Cannon Group came out as what was supposed to be a sequel to a movie we did not that long ago - Invasion U.S.A. Chuck said no to the film so it was passed on to Cannon's main man, Michael Dudikoff who took up the mantle of Matt Hunter quite well, thank you very much.The movie wasn't a sequel anymore, it was a stand-alone movie (with a lead character who just happened to be named Matt Hunter...don't think about it too long). Bad, racist men doing bad man racist things and we *reeeeeaalllly* want them to get killed. Have a listen to our talk-through and laugh along with us while Dudikoff and Steve James whoop some ass.Also, thanks to David Bone for the Facebook request! If you would like to hear us talk through *your* favorite martial arts movie, drop us a comment over there or on our Instagram or TikTok! Just look up You Have Offended This Podcast!If you can subscribe to the Pod, please do. It really helps us out. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/you-have-offended-this-podcast-1. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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J. G. Michael of Parallax Views joins Boris and Fritz to watch the 1985 anti-communist Cannon Films production, Invasion, USA, starring and co-written by Chuck Norris. They put the film in the historical context of the theme of Red Dawn-style Communist coup fiction beginning with the 1947 comic book, Is This Tomorrow, illustrated by Charles M. Schulz of Peanuts fame, and the original 1952 film that Chuck Norris later resurrected. Listen to Parallax Views at patreon . com / parallaxviews Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Mrparka's Weekly Reviews and Update Week 355 (03.01.2024) Death Wish 4K, Bloodmoon www.youtube.com/mrparka https://www.instagram.com/mrparka/ https://twitter.com/mrparka00 http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-ray https://www.facebook.com/mrparka https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/ https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ https://www.patreon.com/mrparka https://open.spotify.com/show/2oJbmHxOPfYIl92x5g6ogK https://anchor.fm/mrparka https://www.stitcher.com/show/shut-up-brandon-podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mrparkas-weekly-reviews-and-update-the-secret-top-10/id1615278571 Time Stamps 0:00 “Le Combat dans l'île” Review – 0:12 “Terror of the Master” Review – 3:44 “Bloodmoon” Review –6:30 “Invasion U.S.A.” Review – 9:30 “Death Wish” 4K Review - 13:21 Missing Pieces of the 80's “Golem” 1980 Review - 19:56 1981 “War of the World: The Next Century” Review - 22:59 1981 “Screamers” Review - 29:46 Patreon Pick “Pig Killer” Review - 32:12 Questions & Answers - 36:40 Update - 41:13 22 Shots of Moodz and Horror – https://www.22shotsofmoodzandhorror.com/ Podcast Under the Stairs – https://tputscast.com/podcast Video Version – https://youtu.be/IBj9PvFmWAw Links Radiance Films- https://radiancefilms.us/ “Le Combat dans l'île” Blu-Ray - https://mvdshop.com/products/le-combat-dans-lile-blu-ray SRS - https://srscinemastore.com/ “Terror of the Master DVD - https://mvdshop.com/products/terror-of-the-master-dvd Severin Films - https://severinfilms.com/ “Bloodmoon” Blu-Ray - https://severinfilms.com/collections/new-releases/products/bloodmoon-blu-ray “Invasion U.S.A.” Blu-Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Invasion-U-S-Blu-ray-Chuck-Norris/dp/B018WQBNB8 “Death Wish” 4K - https://kinolorber.com/product/death-wish-4kuhd Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy Blu-Ray Set - https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/piotr-szulkins-apocalypse-tetralogy “Screamers” Blu-Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Screamers-Blu-ray-Barbara-Bach/dp/B00JV054A6/ “Pig Killer” Blu-Ray - https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/pig-killer Update Blu-Ray 1. Lords of the Deep 2. Wheels of Fire/ Raiders of the Sun Film Notes Fire and Ice (Le Combat dans l'île) - 1962 - Alain Cavalier Terror of the Master - 1998 - Jeff Kirkendall Bloodmoon - 1990 - Alec Mills Invasion U.S.A. - 1985 - Joseph Zito Death Wish - 1974 - Michael Winner Golem - 1980 - Piotr Szulkin War of the Worlds: The Next Century - 1981 - Piotr Szulkin Screamers - 1981 - Sergio Martino Pig Killer - 2022 - Chad Ferrin --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mrparka/support

Mrparka's Weekly Reviews and Update Week 355 (03.01.2024) Death Wish 4K, Bloodmoon www.youtube.com/mrparka https://www.instagram.com/mrparka/ https://twitter.com/mrparka00 http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-ray https://www.facebook.com/mrparka https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/ https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ https://www.patreon.com/mrparka https://open.spotify.com/show/2oJbmHxOPfYIl92x5g6ogK https://anchor.fm/mrparka https://www.stitcher.com/show/shut-up-brandon-podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mrparkas-weekly-reviews-and-update-the-secret-top-10/id1615278571 Time Stamps 0:00 “Le Combat dans l'île” Review – 0:12 “Terror of the Master” Review – 3:44 “Bloodmoon” Review –6:30 “Invasion U.S.A.” Review – 9:30 “Death Wish” 4K Review - 13:21 Missing Pieces of the 80's “Golem” 1980 Review - 19:56 1981 “War of the World: The Next Century” Review - 22:59 1981 “Screamers” Review - 29:46 Patreon Pick “Pig Killer” Review - 32:12 Questions & Answers - 36:40 Update - 41:13 22 Shots of Moodz and Horror – https://www.22shotsofmoodzandhorror.com/ Podcast Under the Stairs – https://tputscast.com/podcast Video Version – https://youtu.be/IBj9PvFmWAw Links Radiance Films- https://radiancefilms.us/ “Le Combat dans l'île” Blu-Ray - https://mvdshop.com/products/le-combat-dans-lile-blu-ray SRS - https://srscinemastore.com/ “Terror of the Master DVD - https://mvdshop.com/products/terror-of-the-master-dvd Severin Films - https://severinfilms.com/ “Bloodmoon” Blu-Ray - https://severinfilms.com/collections/new-releases/products/bloodmoon-blu-ray “Invasion U.S.A.” Blu-Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Invasion-U-S-Blu-ray-Chuck-Norris/dp/B018WQBNB8 “Death Wish” 4K - https://kinolorber.com/product/death-wish-4kuhd Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy Blu-Ray Set - https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/piotr-szulkins-apocalypse-tetralogy “Screamers” Blu-Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Screamers-Blu-ray-Barbara-Bach/dp/B00JV054A6/ “Pig Killer” Blu-Ray - https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/pig-killer Update Blu-Ray 1. Lords of the Deep 2. Wheels of Fire/ Raiders of the Sun Film Notes Fire and Ice (Le Combat dans l'île) - 1962 - Alain Cavalier Terror of the Master - 1998 - Jeff Kirkendall Bloodmoon - 1990 - Alec Mills Invasion U.S.A. - 1985 - Joseph Zito Death Wish - 1974 - Michael Winner Golem - 1980 - Piotr Szulkin War of the Worlds: The Next Century - 1981 - Piotr Szulkin Screamers - 1981 - Sergio Martino Pig Killer - 2022 - Chad Ferrin --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mrparka/support

Breanna Morello worked her way up in the mainstream media from the most entry-level position to working as a producer at Fox News, Newsmax, and MLB until they required the VAX to continue working for them.Breanna MorelloWEBSITE: www.breannamorello.comRUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/TheBreannaMorelloShow TWITTER: https://twitter.com/BreannaMorelloSUBSTACK: https://breannamorello.substack.com/ TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: theflyoverapp.comSPONSORS FOR TODAY'S VIDEO► ReAwaken America- text the word EVENTS to 40509(Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com)► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover► Z-Stack - https://flyoverhealth.com ► Dr. Jason Dean (BraveTV) - https://parakiller.com ► Patriot Mobile - www.patriotmobile.com/flyoverWant to help spread the Wake Up • Speak Up • Show Up -https://shop.flyoverconservatives.com/-------------------------------------------Follow our Social Media so we can be best friends

Cooper and Nolan are having a Cannon Films Christmas this year when they cover INVASION U.S.A.! Unfortunately, what should have been a merry celebration of Chuck Norris and all-denim wardrobes quickly devolved into a bunch of angry shouting about unnecessary characters and the absence of kicks. Did the many, MANY beers the guys drank during the recording process have something to do with this? We're not saying they did, but at one point Nolan legitimately confused the main bad guy (a Russian terrorist mercenary) with Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride. If that last sentence confused you, just wait til you see what else is under the tree; this episode (featuring 12 days worth of beer from the 2023 Fattey Beer Co. advent calendar) is one present you can't put back in the box!

Everyone has their own holiday traditions. We've covered many Christmas classics on Invasion of the Remake, but what about the more unconventional movies that we consider to be season watches? This week we cover those films that you have argued to be or not to be a Christmas movie with your friends and relatives.  Here is what we watched for this week's episode: Die Hard (1988) Die Hard 2 (1990) L.A. Confidential (1997) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) Lethal Weapon (1987) Gremlins (1984) The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) Batman Returns (1992) The Holiday (2006) While You Were Sleeping (1995) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Invasion U.S.A. (1985) Love Hard (2021) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Carol (2015) Support independent podcasts like ours by telling your friends and family how to find us at places like Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tune In Radio, PodChaser, Amazon Music, Audible, Libsyn, iHeartRadio and all the best podcast providers. Spread the love! Like, share and subscribe! You can also help out the show with a positive review and a 5-star rating over on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. We want to hear from you and your opinions will help shape the future of the show. Your ratings and reviews also help others find the show. Their "earballs" will thank you. https://invasionoftheremake.wixsite.com/podcast Follow us on Twitter: @InvasionRemake Like and share us on Facebook, Instagram & Tik-Tok: Invasion of the Remake Email us your questions, suggestions, corrections, challenges and comments: invasionoftheremake@gmail.com Buy a cool t-shirt, PPE masks and other Invasion of the Remake swag at our TeePublic Store!

In this very special BONUS EPISODE, Cooper and Nolan unbox the first 17 beers from the Fattey Beer Co.'s 2023 Beer Advent Calendar! What kind of delicious American beers will the guys find inside? Who will end up drafting what for this week's INVASION U.S.A. episode? And what's the right way to pronounce "pecan"? The answers to all these questions and more are ready for you to discover, so don't wait til Christmas - unwrap this episode and dive in!

This week on the Bloody Good Film Podcast we are on to week two of Non-Nogcember. The holidays are in full swing already so we are bringing so many Christmas punches this week that you will beg for January. We cover not one, but two Christmas action movies starting with Chuck Norris in Invasion U.S.A. and finishing up with Dolph Lundgren in Dark Angel. (I Come In Peace)Can Chuck Norris stop an entire invasion with nothing more than a jean vest, vivacious chest hair, and dual machine guns? Of course. Can Dolph Lundgren stop an alien drug dealer with a death dealing CD? Also of course. Join us as we discuss Chuck Norris' telepathic sense of danger and the world's most boring performance from Dolph Lundgren's buddy cop partner. Most importantly we give you the answer to our weekly question...Are Invasion U.S.A. and Dark Angel bloody good films?We encourage everyone to watch along while you listen and make sure to comment and let us know what you think. If you haven't already please follow us on Facebook, TikTok, "X" and Instagram @bloodygoodfilmpodcast and remember...Keep it bloody buddies!!!https://linktr.ee/BloodyGoodFilmPodcast...#ChuckNorris #InvasionUSA #DolphLundgren #DarkAngel #Christmas #ChristmasMovie #Film #Movie #Movies #Action #Horror #ActionFilm #ActionMovie #ActionMovies #HorrorFilm #HorrorFilms #HorrorMovie #HorrorMovies #ActionPodcast #HorrorPodcast

A kind of mea culpa to David Fincher and Christopher Nolan, the classiness of Peter Cushing, Kelly LeBrock calling me, how not to hold a girl's hand, the amazing and dearly departed Steve James, Vincent D'Onofrio liking me, and Vincent Gallo breaking up a relationship of mine (ok maybe it wasn't a relationship). Stuff mentioned: Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), Star Wars (1977), Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Three's Company (1977-1984), Sling Blade (1996), Blame it on Rio (1984), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Charade (1963), Hill Street Blues (1981-1987), St. Elsewhere (1982-1988), Midnight Run (1988), Tron (1982), Voyagers! (1982), The Woman in Red (1984), Weird Science (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Hard to Kill (1990), Missing in Action (1984), Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), Delta Force (1986), Invasion U.S.A. (1985), Kinjite (1989), Barfly (1987), American Ninja (1985), The Player (1992), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Eight Men Out (1988), Lone Star (1996), Blood Simple (1984), Cheers (1982-1993), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Buffalo '66 (1998), and The Brown Bunny (2003).

Invasion U.S.A. (1985) Category: THE BIG 3 (But Really Not The 3 You Want) 2/3 The one-man army of Bones finally brings Chuck Norris to 5DR. The boys continue The Big 3 fight and do some bad Eastwood impressions. This movie is no plot and all uzi. LD wants to send Kron to basic training. The classic boxer v briefs comes up. Cajan Kron shows up and who is Jerry Cantrell? Don't forget your armadillo. -Crash & Burn JOIN THE DISCORD https://discord.com/invite/3zP2SXKtfq Theme by Dkrefft https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yxWXpxlqLE4tjoivvU6XL

The United States are invaded by communists and only 1 man can save the entire country, yep that mans Chuck Norris!!!!!

Välkommen till "Film till fikat"! Där vi varje vecka diskuterar en ny film vi sett, på ett lättsamt sätt till en fika i glada vänners lag. Säsong 4, avsnitt 1: Dagens film blir Invasion U.S.A. från år 1945... Director: Joseph Zito Stars: Chuck Norris, Richard Lynch, Melissa Prophet Handling: USA attackeras och en grupp internationella terrorister försöker ta över landet. En före detta CIA-anställd rekryteras för att ta sig an sin gamla fiende som leder terroristgruppen. Följ oss på Facebook, Instagram och Twitter Mail: Filmtillfikat@gmail.com

(This version has no audio of the movie. We have another version with movie audio)   Women prepare to get pregnant, men your testosterone is about to jump to abnormal high levels! In one of the bloodiest movies we've watched yet, Chuck Norris and Joseph Zito knock it out of the park with an entertaining action film, that contains a villain who believes shooting dick is the only way to make progress.   Invasion U.S.A. | 1985 is a 1985 American action film produced by Cannon Films, and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. It involves the star fighting off a force of Soviet/Cuban-led guerrillas.   Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Watch to this Podcast YouTube   #Podcast #MovieCommentary #invasionusa #chucknorris  

(This version has audio of the movie. We have another version with no movie audio)   Women prepare to get pregnant, men your testosterone is about to jump to abnormal high levels! In one of the bloodiest movies we've watched yet, Chuck Norris and Joseph Zito knock it out of the park with an entertaining action film, that contains a villain who believes shooting dick is the only way to make progress.   Invasion U.S.A. | 1985 is a 1985 American action film produced by Cannon Films, and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. It involves the star fighting off a force of Soviet/Cuban-led guerrillas.   Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Watch to this Podcast YouTube   #Podcast #MovieCommentary #invasionusa #chucknorris  

Haare. Muskeln. Knarren. Haare. Glasnost. Haare. KABUMM! Es kracht mit Unsympath Chuck Norris und good ole Arnie. KABUMM! (nochmal)

On the May 11 edition of The World According to Ben Stein, we take a look at why some people have such a tough time saying America is a great country. Also, @BenStein, @JudahFriedman, and @TheRoffDraft consider whether we've reached the end of the conversation about racism and why. And Ben asks Peter to explain why there are no good Vietnamese restaurants in Alexandria Va., anymore – which means Judah has to have Sushi on his birthday. All this upcoming on the latest edition of #TheWorldAccordingtoBenStein.

Au sommaire de cette spéciale années 80 : -Évocation de deux sorties ESC, à savoir L'AUBE ROUGE de John Milius & INVASION U.S.A. de Joseph Zito ;-Chronique de titres parus chez Elephant Films :ICEMAN de Fred Schepisi & MIRACLE SUR LA 8E RUE de Matthew Robbins. Bonne écoute à toutes et tous !

We all know Chuck Norris is bad ass. Well, so is this movie. Invasion U.S.A. is a film that puts our protagonist, Matt Hunter (Norris) the one-man army, up against a group of foreign invaders. Can one man stop the relentless assault? Listen as we talk about this Cannon classic.   www.garbagedaypodcast.com www.patreon.com/garbagedaypodcast garbagedaypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @garbagedaycast  

This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon.   This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying.   And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s.       But first, as always, some backstory.   Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research.   Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee.   That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940.   In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man.   In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee.   In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics.   Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men.   And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series.   But movies were a different matter.   The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract  that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company.   Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films.   Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself.   So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming.   Spider-Man.   A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay.   There was just one small problem.   Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character.   Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death.   To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement.   Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man.   Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later.   In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter.   By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies.   And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman.   Who?   Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa.   Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else.   But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits…   Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone.   A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later.   There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s.   But the one that would stick?   Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years?   The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character?   Howard the Duck.   Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero.   Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero.   He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City.    Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly.   The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie.   A PG-rated movie.   Enter George Lucas.   In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism.   Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for.   “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask.   Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck.   Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen.   Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office.   It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character.   For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene.   To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier.   After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date.   Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time.   As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung.   By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics.    The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m.    The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet.   Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales.   Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott.   Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit.   Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller.   Phew.   If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford,  and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film.   And it sucked.   Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills.   And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres.   In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle.   And a debacle it was.   But just how bad?   So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!”   And it did.   Well, sort of.   When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate.   And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews.   But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film.   Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married.   For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades.   And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky.   Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.   But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If…   There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment.   It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon.   This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying.   And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s.       But first, as always, some backstory.   Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research.   Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee.   That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940.   In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man.   In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee.   In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics.   Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men.   And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series.   But movies were a different matter.   The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract  that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company.   Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films.   Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself.   So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming.   Spider-Man.   A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay.   There was just one small problem.   Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character.   Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death.   To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement.   Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man.   Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later.   In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter.   By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies.   And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman.   Who?   Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa.   Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else.   But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits…   Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone.   A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later.   There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s.   But the one that would stick?   Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years?   The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character?   Howard the Duck.   Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero.   Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero.   He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City.    Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly.   The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie.   A PG-rated movie.   Enter George Lucas.   In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism.   Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for.   “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask.   Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck.   Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen.   Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office.   It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character.   For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene.   To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier.   After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date.   Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time.   As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung.   By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics.    The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m.    The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet.   Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales.   Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott.   Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit.   Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller.   Phew.   If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford,  and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film.   And it sucked.   Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills.   And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres.   In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle.   And a debacle it was.   But just how bad?   So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!”   And it did.   Well, sort of.   When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate.   And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews.   But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film.   Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married.   For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades.   And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky.   Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.   But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If…   There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment.   It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Can Chuck Norris defeat a ragtag team of terrorists? Of course, he can! Listen to Analog Jones break down one of the best Chuck Norris movies ever!  Quick Facts Directed by Joseph Zito (F13: Final Chapter) Screenplay by James Bruner and Chuck Norris  Story by Aaron Norris and James Bruner Distributed by Cannon Releasing Corporation Budget: $12 million Released on September 27, 1985 Box Office $17.5 million Starring  Chuck Norris as CIA Agent Matt Hunter Richard Lynch as Mikal Rostov How to find Analog Jones Discuss these movies and more on our Facebook page. You can also listen to us on iTunes, iHeartRADIO, Podbean, and Youtube! Please email us at analogjonestof@gmail.com with any comments or questions!

Invasion U.S.A.   The finale of our Loose Cannon's series of episodes.   https://veryunreasonablethings.com/ Twitter:  @VUTpodcast Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/Very-Unreasonable-Things-102845525174413/ Instagram:  veryunreasonablethings Intro Music:  SQZ by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com/ Outro Music:  Switch Me On by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com/

This week we happened across 3 different stories in the News about to looting and the collection of antiquities both by museums and individuals. There are many ways that looting happens, and it can have far reaching effects on both the looter(s) and the people from whom they stole.Links Oscar White Muscarella, archaeologist who exposed looted artifacts and fakes, dies at 91 TAS Episode 165 - Desert Kites, Miami Pre-History, and Illicit Antiquities An Open Letter to Arrowhead Hunters Spanish police find hundreds of archaeological artefacts at two homes U.S. Returns Artifacts Taken from Iraq Museum in 2003 Invasion U.S. Returns Thousands of Artifacts, Including Hobby Lobby's Gilgamesh Tablet, to Iraq National Museum, Baghdad: 10 Years Later World War II Looted Art: Turning History into JusticeContact Chris Websterchris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com Rachel Rodenrachel@unraveleddesigns.comRachelUnraveled (Instagram)ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public StoreAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

This week we happened across 3 different stories in the News about to looting and the collection of antiquities both by museums and individuals. There are many ways that looting happens, and it can have far reaching effects on both the looter(s) and the people from whom they stole.Links Oscar White Muscarella, archaeologist who exposed looted artifacts and fakes, dies at 91 TAS Episode 165 - Desert Kites, Miami Pre-History, and Illicit Antiquities An Open Letter to Arrowhead Hunters Spanish police find hundreds of archaeological artefacts at two homes U.S. Returns Artifacts Taken from Iraq Museum in 2003 Invasion U.S. Returns Thousands of Artifacts, Including Hobby Lobby's Gilgamesh Tablet, to Iraq National Museum, Baghdad: 10 Years Later World War II Looted Art: Turning History into JusticeContact Chris Websterchris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com Rachel Rodenrachel@unraveleddesigns.comRachelUnraveled (Instagram)ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public StoreAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

OH SH*T, IT'S RICHARD LYNCH! Our hosts Dominic Lawton & Ken B Wild are getting into the festive spirit by wearing double denim, riding a hovercraft and wrestling some gators as they deep dive the 1985 Chuck Norris classic - INVASION U.S.A! The guys tick off all the classic action movie tropes that get covered in this film, question why Richard Lynch is going around shooting everyone in the dick and discuss Chuck Norris's best mate - John Eagle! Meanwhile, Dom compares Chuck Norris's mullet to a ham sandwich whilst Ken explains The Norris Nightmare! The film-pitch this week sees the BMC giving us a Christmas action classic! When terrorists seize America's biggest shopping mall on Christmas Eve it's up to new employee Nick Saint (Adkins) and all the different department store Santa's to save the day! It's ACTION! CHRISTMAS!! Cast includes Scott Adkins, William Sadler, Steven Seagal, Cynthia Rothrock, Gina Carrano, Jean Claude Van Damme, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tommy Lee Jones, Richard Dreyfuss, Daniel Radcliffe, Clint Howard and Carl Weathers as Sheriff (of the mall) Carl Weathers! Have you got a question, want to suggest a film to review or would you like to send us your own film pitch that we will read out on the podcast? Email us! Visit our website for more episodes & written reviews : WWW.BADMOVIECULT.COM Follow us on TWITTER Follow us on INSTAGRAM Join us on FACEBOOK Dominic Lawton can be found on TWITTER Ken B Wild can be found on TWITTER Got a spare minute? Leave us a rating or review on iTunes!

This week, it's time to die. The gang accompanies Chuck Norris, the one-man army, as he rescues the entire United States of America from a radical Russian spy who attempts an invasion. Join us for Joe Zito's 1985 action-packed Invasion U.S.A. Intro: Offical Invasion U.S.A theatrical trailer from 1985 Outro: Clip from 1985 Making of Documentary of Invasion U.S.A. also featuring the film's theme by Jay Chattaway Clips throughout the episode are taken directly from the feature film and the making of the documentary.

Happy Memorial Day! This week is our latest installment in the Cannon Fodder series, "Invasion U.S.A.", the Chuck Norris Cannon Films cult classic from 1985! Part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcasting Network! Join our Patreon for bonus episodes & content over at https://www.patreon.com/aaspookshow & follow us on Twitter @AASpookshow as well as Facebook, Instagram, Slasher & our YouTube channel by searching All-American Spookshow Horror Podcast.  Email us at allamericanspookshow@gmail.com with questions & comments, and be sure to leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify!  Here's the link to the movie trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbGozPL5BeA LINKS:  https://linktr.ee/aaspookshow

5-20-2022 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ah, Chuck Norris…why did anyone ever like you? Guests Lindsay and Nick don't know either. But stuff blows up! SO much stuff!

On this Thursday edition of Drive-In Double Feature and the end of Chuck Norris week, we are talking about Invasion USA. The 1985 Cannon action film asks the question. Would invading forces to America be scared of Chuck?

Ryan is joined by Jack of The Drunk Bond Podcast. Join us as we discuss Chuck, denim and burned faces! Join our FB group https://bit.ly/3JtfebF  Join our Twitter https://bit.ly/3EBBIUf  Join our Discord  https://discord.gg/aQyx9y9ZZd

NTD Business News- 3/18/2022 1. Ending Normal Trade Relations With Russia 2. Putin: West ‘Defaulted' by Freezing Reserves 3. Biden, Xi's 1st Phone Call Since Invasion 4. How Will Fed Rate Hikes Affect U.S. Business? 5. Inflation Causing Customer Limits

Un podcast audio sur le cinéma, cette saison 04 est axée sur les films d'exploitation ▽▽▽▽▽▽ Des jolis liens ci dessous ! ▽▽▽▽▽▽ On parle, entre autres, et sans spoiler, des films : - Turkish Rambo (1983) appelé aussi Korkusuz / Rampage - Ultime combat (1988) David A prior - Invasion U.S.A. (1985) JOSEPH ZITO Les chroniqueurs de cet épisode : Adrien, David, Joss et moi même Autres films cités : Hot Shots 2 Le fils de Rambow Die Hard John Wick Tropic thunder Last Action hero Commando Expendables

8:26 - Jerks of the Week 12:44 - Dracula (the Spanish version) 14:47 - The Penalty 17:05 - Yu Yu Hakusho 34:25 - Glee (Season One) 36:09 - No Escape 40:14 - The Battle at Lake Changjin 52:32 - The Nutjob 2: Nutty by Nature 59:58 - Old 1:01:08 - Cyber Ninja 1:05:01 - Invasion U.S.A.

This episode Brian and Nez help out a former CIA agent track down and fight a Soviet operative and his band of rebels in the 1985 Chuck Norris smash action classic INVASION U.S.A..   Join The Action Returns Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/841619946357776   Follow The Action Returns on IG and Twitter: Instagram: @theactionreturns Twitter: @action_returns    Check out everything Horror Returns at: https://thehorrorreturns.com Join The Horror Returns Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1056143707851246 THR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thehorrorreturns   Join the THR Presents: Stream Fiends Facebook Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3860579827402429 Follow THR Stream Fiends on IG: @thrstreamfiends

It's the second week of The Christmas Movie Chronicles! We got Spider-Men, action movies, Christmas movies, and action movies that turn out to also be Christmas movies! Tune in to hear about some movies that are definitely going to be added to my yearly Christmas movie rotation and a far too long tangent about what it was like to work at Macy's! This week's movies: Spider-Man 3 (2007) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Dial Code Santa Claus (1989) Passenger 57 (1992) Trapped in Paradise (1994) Invasion U.S.A. (1985) Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) Prancer (1989) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) The French Connection (1971) Speed (1994) Santa with Muscles (1996) Cobra (1986) Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Cette semaine, on reçoit Simon Laperrière, doctorant en études cinématographiques et cofondateur des Nuits de la 4e dimension, pour parler d'un film « de Noël » mettant en vedette le légendaire Chuck Norris : Invasion U.S.A. (1985).Nos épisodes sont également disponibles en vidéo.Suivez-nous : PatreonFacebookYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotifyBaladoQuebecFilmsdanslecabanon.com

Welcome to our (kinda) brand new show, HPV! We decided to kick off the show on America's favorite turkey day with a celebration of the only American who matters, Chuck Norris. Put some turkey in your mouth and some bullsh!t in your ears, baby! 

Invasion: U.S. authorities detained more than 1.7 million illegal immigrants along the Mexico border. We are living in the era of mass media and mass hysteria, the results are not good. Remember NY Gov. Hochul's "vaxed" necklace wearing; Buck joked she should have doubled it, right? New York Governor Hochul: Colin Powell's death "cannot be hijacked" by anti-vaxxers. Nation's worst mayor announces covid vaccine mandate for all New York City workers. FDA going to announce booster mandate? CDC boss Walensky says schools should keep mask mandates even if kids are vaccinated. Let's Go Brandon rap song rockets up the charts: C&B play it for you. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

On our new episode for Red Hot '80s Action Summer, we are talking about the inestimable Chuck Norris in one of his classic terrorist shoot-em-up films, Invasion U.S.A. We touch on the sheer ridiculousness of the film, Chuck's fabulous red mullet, the inferiority of the US National Guard, and the homoerotic undertones at play here. We're also drinking Ommegang's Sleeveless Tea! Approximate timeline 0:00-8:00 Intro 8:00-15:00 Beer talk 15:00-end Invasion U.S.A. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bloodandblackrum/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bloodandblackrum/support

We decided to celebrate the 4th of July like true red-blooded Americans by watching three films that embody the spirit of the United States (or possibly just have USA in the title and involve blowing shit up). Jack, an Irishman, AKA what every American wants to be, even put together a fun American citizenship test to see who has earned the right to continue to live in this country. Please salute the nearest flag, throw a burger on the grill and crank up the volume. This is what patriotism sounds like. THIS WEEK: Danger USA (1989), Action U.S.A. (1989), Invasion U.S.A. (1985) Rate and Review Optimism Vaccine on iTunes: https://bit.ly/OptimismVaccine (https://bit.ly/OptimismVaccine) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine (https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine) Support this podcast

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MOLASSES 2X4! On this very special Christmas episode, the Cannon Bros (Frank and Geoff) are watching the 1985 Chuck Norris "holiday" classic INVASION U.S.A. Or as we all call it...the prequel to AVENGING FORCE. Put on your Jay Leno denim special because we are giving you the gift of confusing politics. A movie that has so much Christmas shoved in between blowing up suburbs with rocket launchers, you would think Shane Black directed it. From shooting people in the penis, to rocket launchers, to realizing this movie is Back to the Future II for the GOP, to rocket launchers, to constantly being worried about that lil armadillo to rocket launchers. It's the gift that keeps on giving! Did we mention rocket launchers? There is almost TOO much action in this stone-cold Cannon classic and we go through every...damn...moment. It's the episode that'll hit you with so many rights you'll be begging for a left! Follow us on the socials! Twitter: @thecannoncanon Instagram: @thecannoncanon Patreon: patreon.com/thecannoncanon Please rate and review us!

Alternate Title: Livin' in an X-Mas Town!We watched another Chuck Norris movie and we wish we didn't. Some Russians or something invade on Christmas or something... we think.

DUDIKOFF BABY!!!! "Avenging Force" might be the most Cannon-y Cannon films in the history of Cannon Films and the Cannon Canon Bros (Frank and Geoff) are sticking it where the sun don't shine (audibly speaking and into your earholes, of course)! Is it a sequel to "Invasion U.S.A"? Is it almost too prescient of our current times? Are Frank and Geoff jealous of Michael Dudikoff and Steve James' friendship? Is that John P. Ryan's real guttural demonic scream? Which Build a Bear killer costume would we choose? And DID SO MANY KIDS NEED TO DIE?!?!?! So many questions, you could discretely fit them into a baby crib, it's...."Avenging Force!" Follow us on the socials: Twitter: @thecannoncanon Instagram: @thecannoncanon Please rate and review us!

The History and Legacy of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, Chapter 9: Top of the Basic Cable Mountain! This week, we begin our very deep dive into Season 6 with discussions about the miracle of Jeff Stonehouse and the inconsistently named Umbilicus, take a voluntary trip to “Girls Town” and invade the USA not once but three times.Plus? Detours into “Papillon”, “I Saw What You Did”, “Invasion U.S.A.” (1985), “Red Dawn” and the dueling Lois Lanes of “Adventures of Superman”. Start a new Chapter with your wonky but affable host!Random Recommendations return with “The Tingler”, courtesy of Trivial Theater!Trivial Theater: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXy9NMwmjbqWd5o94yyp56QKeep the show alive today, get early episodes and hours of exclusive content for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/coolnesschronicleshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-coolness-chronicles/id1431611476https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-coolness-chronicles?refid=stprhttps://open.spotify.com/show/0sONU9Bdsq35PwO8mE3jVThttp://www.buzzsprout.com/200242Twitter: @coolnesspodryan, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coolnesspodryan Theme Music by: Bildschirm (bildschirm.bandcamp.com) The clips featured in this podcast were for critical review and parody, which are protected under the Fair Use laws of the United States Copyright Act of 1976. All rights are reserved and acknowledged."Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. ℗© 1980 The Island Def Jam Music GroupSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/coolnesschronicles)

It's Chuck Norris! Actually appearing and acting in a movie, not just being a quote that someone posted on your Facebook wall in like 2006! We're dealing with INVASION U.S.A., where the only thing standing between an ill-defined mercenary army and Uncle Sam is a denim-clad beardo! Robin, Sean and Kahmeela tear it down!

It's time...for a new episode of THE MILKSHAKE BOOM! This week grab your rocket launcher, exploding suitcase, and your baby armadillo because we are taking our airboats all the way down river to 'Invasion U.S.A.', cowboy! This explosive 1985 Chuck Norris flick, directed by Joseph Zito and produced by Cannon Films, is the pinnacle of low budget '80s movie excess!  In fact, excess might be an understatement.  Here's a good rule of thumb:  If it appears on screen, there's a good chance it'll probably explode.  Car?  Explode!  A shopping mall?  Explode!  An ENTIRE SUBURB...during Christmas time?!?  EXPLODE!!

Guns of Hollywood talks about all the guns and goofiness of Chuck Norris' Invasion U.S.A. (1985).

TO SYNC WITH MOVIE: Start this commentary 10 seconds after starting movie. It's beginning to look a lot like Norris! The Film Pigs celebrate the season with the festive holiday picture "Invasion U.S.A." With the fierce demeanor of an indifferent koala, Chuck Norris saves America from the poorly-thought-out machinations of a Soviet terrorist and his band of extras from "The Warriors" with an empty, massive-stroke-like gaze and at least two kicks thrown by Norris himself. Once again, Chuck reaffirms the open-button shirt tucked neatly into your pants that is Freedom and the dense thicket of beard of Liberty for us all. Plus, holiday well-wishes to our fans. (IMDb)